Stimulation of Sex Pheromone Production in Corn Earworm Moths by Injection of Extracts of Heads of Males of the Caribbean Fruit Fly

Abstract

Females of the Corn earworm moth, Helicoverpa zea Boddie, were induced to produce sex pheromone during the photophase, when no pheromone is normally produced, by injection of aqueous extracts obtained from the heads of sexually mature males of the Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa (Loew). The amounts of sex pheromone present in extracts of pheromone glands from moths, obtained 1 h after injection of between 0.25-10 head equivalents of extracts, were greater than that present in extracts from females injected with only saline. Moths injected with 1 head equivalent of fly extract produced as much pheromone as was produced by moths injected with 5 pmol of synthetic pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PBAN). However, the amount of pheromone was lower in extracts obtained from females injected with 10 head equivalents than in extracts from females injected with 1 head equivalent. ELISA studies, conducted using antisera which binds with PBAN, and the biologically active C-terminal decapeptide fragment of PBAN, indicated that material present in extracts from fly heads bound with the antibody in a dose dependent fashion.